This thesis analyzes the offensiveness of Afrikaans taboo words gathered from an online survey and cross-compares it to grammatical constructions and functionality as displayed in an Afrikaans corpus. Culturally speaking, Afrikaans has a rich history of taboo terminology, especially in the racial category. The historical importance of taboo terms aids in understanding the evolution of the offensiveness of terms, especially as influenced by factors such as politics, attitude shifts, younger generations, etc. Results from the online survey focused primarily on the White Afrikaans-speaking population, as minimal responses were gathered from other ethnic groups. Additional findings from the survey indicated that various social factors (i.e., gender, Afrikaans, age, occupation, etc.) did not determine what was considered most offensive in both overall and categorical rankings. However, significant findings displayed that context (i.e., church, familiarity, school, university, and work) and where taboo terms were learned determined when taboo terms were most offensive. The level of offensiveness was affected by factors such as country, learning Afrikaans in school, and in the situation of 'offensiveness to you'. Results from the Afrikaans corpus indicated that the frequency of taboo terminology is affected by the terms' offensiveness, grammar constructions and functionality. This study also indicates that the genericness of taboo terms plays a role in determining the functionality and type of grammar constructions a term may have. Further research is needed to examine if genericness remains consistent within other languages and with other Afrikaans taboo terms not examined in this study.

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Στην παρούσα μεταπτυχιακή εργασία, αρχικά, γίνεται λόγος για τα γενικά τυπικά χαρακτηριστικά που διέπουν το άσεμνο λεξιλόγιο, κυρίως της Ελληνικής. Στη συνέχεια, επιχειρείται μια μορφολογική ανάλυση των συστατικών που χρησιμοποιούνται για τον σχηματισμό των λέξεων του άσεμνου λεξιλογίου. Ωστόσο, βασικός στόχος είναι η διερεύνηση των σημασιολογικών και πραγματολογικών χαρακτηριστικών που διέπουν αυτό το ιδιαίτερα ενδιαφέρον τμήμα του λεξιλογίου μας. Παράλληλα, ασχολούμαι με περιπτώσεις υποκορισμού ή μεγέθυνσης μέσα στο άσεμνο λεξιλόγιο, με τους μηχανισμούς δανεισμού, με φαινόμενα ευφημισμού και δυσφημισμού και άλλα. Αναλυτικότερα, στο πρώτο κεφάλαιο, το οποίο λειτουργεί ως εναρκτήριο στάδιο ένταξης στο αντικείμενο μελέτης της εργασίας, παρουσιάζω τα περιθωριακά ιδιώματα της ελληνικής καθώς και τη δομή και λειτουργία των ειδικών λεξιλογίων στα οποία εντάσσεται και το προς εξέταση λεξιλόγιο. Στο τέλος του κεφαλαίου εξετάζω τις διαδικασίες και τους μηχανισμούς δανεισμού που υιοθετούνται για την εισαγωγή νέων λέξεων στην Ελληνική από άλλες γλώσσες, οι οποίες επηρέασαν και εμπλούτισαν με αυτόν τον τρόπο το άσεμνο λεξιλόγιο. Στο δεύτερο κεφάλαιο ασχολούμαι με τις διαδικασίες σχηματισμού των λημμάτων του άσεμνου λεξιλογίου. Μορφολογικές διαδικασίες σχηματισμού λέξεων όπως είναι η παραγωγή και η σύνθεση, αλλά και δομές όπως οι συμφυρμοί, λεξικοποιημένες εκφράσεις κ. ά, θα με απασχολήσουν ιδιαίτερα στο κεφάλαιο αυτό. Το τρίτο κεφάλαιο είναι αφιερωμένο στις εννοιακές σχέσεις, στις σχέσεις δηλαδή των λέξεων με άλλες λέξεις, με τις οποίες σχετίζονται. Το βασικό θεωρητικό πρότυπο πάνω στο οποίο θα βασιστώ για την ανάλυση της λεξικής σημασιολογίας είναι αυτό που προτείνεται από τον Cruse (1986, 2004). Εννοιακές σχέσεις, όπως αυτή της πολυσημίας, της συνωνυμίας, της μετωνυμίας, της μερωνυμίας και της μεταφοράς θα με απασχολήσουν ιδιαίτερα. Στη συνέχεια, στο τελευταίο κεφάλαιο με τίτλο «Άσεμνο λεξιλόγιο και Πραγματολογία» αφού αναφερθώ στα κίνητρα που ωθούν στην χρήση αυτού του λεξιλογίου, θα εξετάσω τις λειτουργίες και τη χρήση των λέξεων αυτών μέσα σε συγκεκριμένα εκφωνήματα. Το περιβάλλον μέσα στο οποίο εμφανίζονται οι λέξεις αυτές αλλά και οι διαφορετικοί πολιτισμοί και η νοοτροπία των ομιλητών, όπως θα δούμε στο κεφάλαιο αυτό παίζει πολύ σημαντικό ρόλο. Ολοκληρώνοντας, θα επικεντρωθώ σε λέξεις που χαρακτηρίζονται ως άσεμνες και μπορούν να θεωρηθούν, με βάση πραγματολογικές μελέτες (μεταξύ αυτών Fraser, 2008) ότι λειτουργούν ως δείκτες οργάνωσης λόγου και συγκεκριμένα ως δείκτες προσοχής (attention markers). / Words are extremely important to people. They constitute a means of communication. It is through them that we express our thoughts, feelings and emotions. They are an integral part of our everyday life and they are with us wherever we go. Every word, of any kind, deserves our full attention and needs to be studied, no matter what kind of vocabulary it may be part of. The present thesis is about a very vibrant and expressive part of our language. It concerns “obscene vocabulary”, a domain on which very few scientific studies have been carried out to date. In this thesis I decided to examine the morphological, semantic and pragmatic aspects of the “obscene vocabulary” of the Modern Greek language. In the first chapter, I present the “marginal” jargons of the Modern Greek language, of which “obscene vocabulary” constitutes a part, based on the existing literature so far. Moreover, I propose an appropriate classification of the Greek data, based on Jay (1997). I also look into cases of euphemisms and calumny, and the way they are used in Modern Greek. In addition, I present some cases of loans concerning not only words, but expressions and even affixes coming from other languages as well. Loans and calques seem to constitute a great part of the Greek “obscene vocabulary”, most of them coming from Italian, French and Turkish. The second chapter is about the way that words and expressions of the “obscene vocabulary” are formed. It seems that this kind of vocabulary is highly productive in compound words. What is more, some prefixes and suffixes of the “purist Greek” which are not very productive in the Modern Greek common vocabulary, combined with popular words, they are frequently used to form “obscene” words, resulting in funny word formations. It should be noted here, that the formation of such words is subject to the same constraints as the rest of the vocabulary of the Modern Greek language. Finally, I look into compound expressions, lexicalized phrases, blends and the diminutive and augmentative suffixes and prefixes which are used in order to make a word sound less offensive, more familiar and even positive. The third chapter consists of a semantic analysis of the “obscene vocabulary” of the Modern Greek language, based on Cruse (1986, 2004) and Veloudis (2005). I look into polysemous and synonymous pairs of words and also into notions such as meronymy, metonymy and metaphors, concerning mostly parts of the human body. Finally, I try to analyze the pragmatic aspects of the Greek “obscene vocabulary” This field concerns the circumstances in which this kind of vocabulary is used, human communication, the intonation and the gestures that accompany the use of “obscene vocabulary” and every possible kind of social and psychological reasons, as well as the motives that make someone use this kind of vocabulary. Different languages reflect different cultures and have a different degree and way of using “obscene vocabulary”.

This essay, entitled “Breaking the lawn chair, skinning the fish” - Categorization and Gender Differences in Slang Use in the TV Series Sex Education, claims that slang is part of our everyday language use and it can be found even on TV nowadays. In fact, contemporary TV series often portray a language use that includes informal language and slang expressions and words. This study aims to categorize slang expressions and words and identify gender differences in slang use in the British TV series Sex Education. By integrating quantitative and qualitative methods, the study contrasts Eble’s (1996) and Zotevska’s (2014) categorizations of slang and highlights gender perspectives on language use. First of all, the results show that Eble’s categorization proves to be incomplete to categorize the slang expressions in Sex Education. Furthermore, Zotevska’s categorization shows that a pervasive presence of taboo words and expressions is found in slang usage, whereas proper slang and pragmatic markers constitute a limited amount of the total. Secondly, the results highlight male characters as predominant slang-users. The collected data also indicate an increased presence of slang expressions and words in female speech, as a result of their emancipation and higher levels of participation in Western Societies.

[pt] O presente estudo sobre palavras tabus focaliza o uso de palavrões em nove episódios de Porta dos Fundos como forma de desvendar as práticas discursivas dos residentes do Rio de Janeiro (cariocas) por meio das teorias, principalmente, de: Lexicultura (Galisson, 1988); Semântica e Pragmática (Goffman, 1967; Camara Jr., 1981; Jay, 2008, Carretero, 2011); Interculturalismo (Bennett, 1998; Lewis, 2006; Hofstede, 2010; Ting-Toomey e Chung, 2012); e Didática das Línguas Estrangeiras (Bennett, 1998; Byram, 2000; Liddicoat, 2005, 2013). Através de metodologia qualitativa interpretativa, palavras tabus são analisadas em nove episódios da popular comédia situacional da série online Porta dos Fundos. Sete palavras tabus usadas muito frequentemente nas práticas discursivas dos cariocas, nomeadamente buceta, cu, caralho, foder, pau, porra e puta, são analisadas e interpretadas. O uso semântico e pragmático dessas palavras de ofensa demonstra que se situam nos campos da anatomia sexual, da atividade sexual, da escatologia, do sexo ilícito e dos nomes dos animais – estes, não classificados como palavrão. Onde considerado relevante faz-se uma comparação com palavras tabus em hindi. Observa-se que o uso frequente das palavras tabus em comédias, sátiras e outras formas de entretenimento, assim como em outras situações comunicacionais, não é percebido, como acontece no emprego geral da língua, como atos de ataque à face (Goffman, 1967) em português, em oposição ao que ocorre em Hindi. A análise mostra ainda que os cariocas, brasileiros multi-ativos (Lewis, 2006), a depender de variáveis pragmáticas, usam as palavras tabus também como atos expressivos de fala para comunicar emoções, nem sempre com valor ofensivo, como é o caso do seu uso como interjeição. Ao final, apresenta-se uma proposta didática de palavras tabus para os professores e alunos do Português do Brasil como Língua Estrangeira na Índia. / [en] This study on taboo words focuses on the observation of use of palavrões in nine episodes of the comedy series Porta dos Fundos (PdF) as portrayal of discursive practices of residents of the city of Rio de Janeiro (Cariocas), primarily through theories of: Lexiculture (Galisson, 1988); Semantic and Pragmatics (Goffman, 1967; Camara Jr., 1981; Jay, 2008; Carretero, 2011); Interculturalism (Bennett, 1998; Lewis, 2006; Hofstede, 2010; Ting-Toomey and Chung, 2012); and Foreign Language Teaching (Bennett, 1998; Byram, 2000; Ting-Toomey and Chung, 2012; Liddicoat, 2005, 2013). Through a qualitative interpretative methodology taboo words are analysed in nine episodes of the popular situational comedy online series Porta dos Fundos. Seven more frequently used taboo words by Cariocas, namely buceta, cu, caralho, foder, pau, porra and puta, are analysed and interpreted. The semantic and pragmatic use of taboo words demonstrates that they belong to the themes of sexual anatomy, sexual activity, scatology, illicit sex and animal names – although the latter ones are not classified as taboo words. They are compared with Hindi taboo words wherever applicable. The frequent use of taboo words in comedies, satires and other forms of entertainment, as well as in different types of communicative situations, is not, as generally perceived, i.e., a face threatening act (Goffman, 1967) in Portuguese, opposed to what happens in Hindi. The analysis also shows that the Cariocas, as multi-active Brazilians (Lewis, 2006), depending on the pragmatic variables, use taboo words as expressive speech acts to communicate emotions, not always carrying an offensive tone, as when used as interjections. A TbWs didactic proposal is presented for the teachers and students of Brazilian Portuguese as a Foreign Language in India.